Massachusetts auto insurers have announced new rate structures now allowed under the Patrick administration’s move toward “managed competition”. The average state insurance rate will drop by 7.7%, but what we are really seeing here is the gradual unwinding of subsidies imposed during 30 years of government price control. And (of course) we also observe a rebirth of marketing and promotion in auto insurance. Arbella Mutual Insurance Co. of Quincy, the state's third-largest automobile insurer, said it broke its customers down into five groups: safest, good, careful, standard, and special. A company spokesman said those defined as the safest drivers would receive an average rate reduction of 19.4 percent next year, while good drivers and careful drivers would receive average reductions of 14.5 percent and 7.4 percent, respectively. The Arbella spokesman said standard and special drivers would receive average rate increases of 4.7 percent and 8.3 percent, respectively.
Arbella calls their highest risk customers “special”. How very sweet. Most other people probably just call them “Massholes”.
Note also that Arbella’s average customer will see a price decline of only 6.2% according to the Globe’s graphic. But the lowest risk group sees their premium drop by over 3 times that amount.
I wonder if they offer a discount to drivers who use their turn signals?
3 comments:
The 'standard' category could be renamed the 'bird-flippers' and the 'careful,' the 'directional-less.'
The gesture is pretty "standard" driver behavior here.
More pandering to ensure that a class of people isn't singled out negatively. It's the Liberal way. It's the bleeding Liberal way. It's the Massachusetts way. It's why the other 49 states laugh at Massachusetts.
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